Selects: Sunburn, Suntans and Sunscreen | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

hi everybody it's Chuck here on select. Saturday hopefully this one is coming. out in the summertime like I think I. timed it out too but this one goes back. to July 18th. 2017 it's on your skin and what happens. when you go outside it's called sunburn. Sun Tans and. sunscreen please to. [Music]. enjoy welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart.

[Music]. Radio hey welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh Clark there's Charles W Chu brght. there's Jerry this is stuff you should. know summer sunburn Edition mhm mhm. you're tan well I did think it was kind. of funny I probably have more sun on my. face than I've had in years yes very. very easily I would say and I've been in.

the Sun a lot more lately but I have. been applying. sunscreen but as you will see very. shortly I haven't been the best at. reapplying it no that's what I'm guilty. of too and so I end up getting a tan and. then of course like a dummy I'm like hey. Tans look pretty. good that look foxy people look good. with a little bit of a tan which is just. how you fall into that trap of doing. what's ultimately very bad for your skin. sure next up ascots going down to George. Hamilton route but the rest of my body.

well my lower my lower arms are tan and. my face is tan you have like milk bottle. calves tell me you do everything else is. white take off your pants they're. already off oh okay as always as for. tradition well your pants really are off. um Jerry did you know Chuck's pants are. off she's known for nine years huh. remember the the the t-shirt that. listener made is pants off mic's on yep. or mik on pants off I can't remember the.

order that we do it a wax on wax off I. think uh this one's long overdue though. I think and file it under our general. public service casts yeah there's a lot. of info that's floating around that is. wrong yeah starting with the idea that. Tans are healthy or even protective yeah. like well we'll go through all these and. bust some myths but Tanning Bed Company. saying like oh you need that vitamin D. yeah I know or hey that Bas tan that'll.

help you not burn right we'll go through. all this we're going to but let's start. let's start where everything starts. Chuck let's start with the. sun all right sorry so the sun streaming. down you're familiar with the sun our. star our closest star sure provides. light heat that kind of stuff it's also. bearing down on us deadly radiation. trying to kill us all the time yep right. and there's three types well there's. three kinds of um energy that the sun.

shoots at us there's infrared heat. there's visible light mhm light and then. there's ultraviolet light the scary one. ultraviolet radiation right and then you. can break down ultraviolet radiation. into three more components UVA boo UVB. Boo and. UVC actually if we didn't have our. atmosphere we'd all be dead right now. just because of UVC it's extremely. deadly but we do so that's all it right. if you're an astronaut you got to worry. about UVC right but those of us here on.

Earth we don't we only have to worry. about UVA and UVB and for decades ever. since we started thinking about. protecting ourselves from the Sun we've. basically been focused on. UVB yeah UVB is what will sunburn you. right which is why everybody wants to. protect themselves from it but it turns. out as we'll see UVA is not it's even. worse than UVB it is no slouch no it. really isn't but those are the three. kinds and when sunlight comes here on.

Earth and even when it doesn't if it's. reflected on a cloudy day or through fog. or something like that don't be fooled. no because UVA is still getting through. and as you'll see you need to protect. yourself as a matter of fact as we will. see some people recommend that you use. sunscreen every day all over your body. every day indoors and out well if you do. that you will probably never get skin. cancer that's right unless it's. genetic yeah but you're definitely. helping yourself out right.

uh so you were talking about that. sunlight beaming down and uh fog and. cloud cover and all that stuff uh you. probably if you've ever been snow skiing. gotten sunburned because on a sunny day. that snow will reflect about 90% of UV. light yeah so you get the sun coming. down on you yeah and then you're also. getting a second dose of it reflected. from the snow at a 90% rate right uh if. you're at the beach and you wonder why. you might burn a little more at the. beach uh it's because that sand does the. same thing to a rate of about % yep uh.

where you will not get sunburned they. say is in a greenhouse yeah did you know. that didn't know that you'll sweat to. death sure and you can still get um. taned but you won't burn yeah apparently. glass is a substance that absorbs UV. radiation this is a big thing that I. realized Chuck and I just kind of. touched upon it for my entire life I. thought that sunburn was like a tan gone. too far or conversely that you got.

sunburned and then you got tanned as a. result of sunburn and then you were fine. oh yeah like the people that are like oh. I always burn on day one and then it. turn it turns into a tan right and then. I keep that for the summer and I don't. even need sunblock after that right no. actually a suntan and a sunburn are two. different things yeah and they're the. result of two different types of UV. radiation yeah that people that say that. stuff are completely talking out of. their their butth holes right don't.

listen to them listen to us instead yeah. because there's actual signs behind it. the UVB is what causes sunburns UVA rays. are different and they they are what. ultimately I think it's a deeper. penetration they will ultimately cause. uh like wrinkly skin right and uh like. internal collagen damage and stuff like. that right so UVA for aging UVB for. burning right yes and combined with both.

you look like that lady and There's. Something About Mary right that made out. with a dog yeah so we our it's not like. we're just complete um we're just. completely at the mercy of the sun right. we have natural reactions to sunlight. that are kind of protective measures but. really more than anything we're finding. nowadays that there are huge red flags. that are meant to say like get out of. the sun you're being internally damaged. on a molecular level right now yeah.

hence your sunburn but it turns out that. a tan is the same thing basically it's a. it's a big red flag or a big brown flag. that says um you're. undergoing genetic damage currently you. may want to get out of the Sun not go. lay by the pool some more you got your. tan you're fine yeah when you're getting. that tan what that is is a pigment. called melanin and it is produced in. reaction to.

that uh I guess. UV B UV a UVA man I'm going to get this. UVA be for burning right I should. remember that yeah but it's tough to. it's tough to separate the burn from the. tan and think that they're two different. things after thinking that they're you. know related all your life you know well. it's it's why uh tanning beds use mainly. UVA light right uh because you don't. want it they don't want you to sunburn. when you go to the tanning salon because. then you'll be like wait a minute it's. not how it's supposed to work right and.

you don't get tan from UVB so why even. include it anyway if you don't have to. well yeah and here's the deal though I. guess I might as well go ahead and let. the cat out of the bag with the tanning. beds um one of the things one of the. bogus things that they will tell you is. that like no your body needs vitamin D. and so go to the tanning bed because. it's safer than being in the sun 100% BS. yeah uh you get vitamin D from UVB not. UVA right and tanning beds use UVA to. get you tan oh is that right so it's.

that's completely bogus okay uh to begin. with um one recent estimate uh suggested. indoor tanning caused about. 420,000 cases of skin uh skin cancer in. the United States every year oh my God. that's about double the number of lung. cancer linked to smoking wow uh and 12. States at this point have outlawed. tanning beds for uh miners under 18. years old yeah that seems smart I got. one more stat for you okay uh people who.

used tanning beds for the first time. before the age of. 30 uh presuming they will you know it's. not a one-off uh have a 75% increased. risk in developing melanoma wow the. other don't go to tanning beds people no. that's great advice Chuck man I mean and. a lot of people also think like melanoma. nothing you just cut it out it's fine. actually melanoma can spread can. metastasize really quickly and it is a. very dangerous form of cancer so don't. take that lightly at all yeah plus if. you're going to a tanning bed you're.

probably doing it for your looks have a. little foresight cuz what you're doing. is subjecting your body to Advanced. hyper aging you're going to age. prematurely from going to a tanning bed. and that whole like you know people will. say I don't care I'm young I want to. look tan and look good um that's why we. have Nanny states to choose for you. because you're too stupid to choose for. yourself uh was that Judy no we're. trying to help people I mean this. it's a danger said the guy with a.

freshly tanned face let's let's go back. to the skin and what the Skin's doing. okay all right should we take a break. first or we oh we're a little worked up. we can all right let's take a little. break get into the skin. [Music].

so Chuck we're we're back on the skin. you said that when UVA interacts with. our skin. melanocytes are stimulated to produce. melanin correct yeah totally bailed on. that and melanin is a pigment and one of. the roles that it plays is to absorb it. actually. absorbs radiation UVA radiation mhm and.

under normal circumstances I think um 9. like literally 999 times out of a, it. when it interacts with a photon of UVA. radiation it takes that Photon and it. basically absorbs it into its molecular. structure yeah and it spits it out as. waste heat so it takes the radiation and. turns it into something that's just it's. just heat it it it's not deadly it's not. dangerous any longer yeah and this isn't.

something that happens overnight it. takes a little while to produce this. melanin which is why you don't go out. and get tan in a day right um there's a. longstanding myth that people who have. melanin production constantly people. with darker skin tones um that they. can't burn and that they can't get skin. cancer and that's wrong on both accounts. cor it is um more difficult for somebody. with a very dark skin tone to get.

sunburned yeah but I was reading skin. cancer right yeah there's a lower. prevalence but I was reading um I was. reading up on it. and I saw some dermatologist said if you. have skin you can get sunburned yeah. just give it enough time under the right. conditions you'll get sunburn sure and. then yes skin cancer is a thing as well. um people have uh the fair your. complexion the worse you're going to. burn and the um higher your incidence of.

getting skin cancer from being out in. the sun is but it can happen it's just a. spectrum but on on the other end the. darkest end of the spectrum that doesn't. mean it doesn't happen it just means it. happens less so all of this applies to. people of all different skin tones yeah. and like we said before when it comes to. UVA uh that's a deeper uh penetrating uh. light into the skin it's going to. destroy collagen it's a structural. protein and that collagen goes away and. that's when you're skin becomes less.

elastic less smooth right and that is. what you think of when you think of. wrinkles yeah they found this University. of Michigan study found that when the. participants were exposed to UVA light. um something called Matrix. metalloproteinase one was um produced. and that that goes and destroys collagen. it's like it's one of the body's natural. processes breaking down these cell walls. that give skin structure and that leads.

to wrinkles and saggy skin eventually. and they found that even when you. started to tan the um the. mmp1 production didn't decrease at all. it just kept going so this idea that. when you develop a tan when your melanin. production kicks in that um you're being. protected that's actually not the case. at all we're finding that it's actually. just it's a it's a defense mechanism but. it's not a protective measure that keeps.

everything fine once your Tan's set yeah. I looked up just a quadruple check about. the Bas tan Theory um and it's complete. BS uh they found that a Bas tan provides. and we'll talk about SPF Sun uh. protection Factor right right yeah don't. know why got hesitant at the last second. there uh a base hand provides an SPF of. three or less which means it buys you.

about 10 extra minutes in the sun right. and so little that uh the chief of uh. dermatologic surgery at Yale said it's. essentially completely meaningless in. terms of providing protection so uh and. they in fact they say it can have the. reverse effect uh because people are. under this assumption that a Bas T helps. yeah so they won't do the things you. need to do like wear the hats or the UV. shirts or the suntan or sunscreen or.

stay out longer right and so it ends up. being even worse for you because you. think you have this protective layer of. brown yeah that's one thing that um I. that kept coming up in the research is. that we have a lot of stuff to protect. ourselves and it can be made better and. people are at work right now trying to. improve the things that protect us from. the Sun but that most people aren't. using them right right or don't. understand the the reality of the. situation which is Sun's going to mess.

you up pretty good all right well that's. coming up in a sec um we've talked about. sun tan right so now let's talk about. sunburn uh sunburn kind of simply put is. SE literally cellular damage from. ultraviolet radiation uh it's called. um aritha or arthema it's a rening of. the skin and it is this delayed reading. of the skin caused by an increase of. blood flow. uh to that area yeah and the reason why.

you have increased blood flow to that. area is because you've so damaged your. skin on a molecular level yeah that your. immune response has been set off yeah. and blood is rushing to the area to. bring in uh white blood cells and other. helper immune cells to try to repair the. damage you just did from letting. yourself get a sunburn from UVB rays. right and if you've ever had like a red. like to check and see if your Sun burn. you look at your red skin you touch it.

and it turns white then goes back red. real quick it turns white because you. momentarily disrupt those capillaries. right and then they immediately go no we. need to send blood there and then the. red just comes rushing back right and. there's no worse feeling than a bad. sunburn no it's pretty bad it ruins your. beach trip sure if you get that thing on. the first day everybody gets mad at you. you're screwed yeah it's just no good. it's no good it's no good and it doesn't. turn to tan I don't care who you are.

that is not science that's a myth it is. a myth so um and people like no you. don't know my skin it turns to tan right. no it doesn't that's wrong there is a. lot of folklore surrounding suntan and. sunburns and stuff huh I think because. people think they just like I know my. body and my skin it's like no there's. science that supersedes all that right. you know but I think the reason that. there is so much myth and folklore. around um Tans and sunburns is because.

science really kind of dropped the ball. for a while and didn't really. investigate this they're only now. starting to investigated on a like a a. really legitimate level yeah you know. it's a good point so I mean it's kind of. science's. fault uh and like you said before any. skin can get burned any part of the body. can get burned um if it sees if the. sunlight can touch it even through. clothing. which we'll talk about a bit later too M.

um you will get sunburned yeah that's. another thing too you might think while. I'm wearing a shirt most shirts unless. it's specifically designed to protect. against UV radiation is letting UV. through um and you can get burned you. can get tanned you can get wrinkled you. can cause cellular damage um anytime UV. radiation comes in contact with your. skin and from what I saw the UVB. radiation is the usually the likeliest. culprit when you get skin cancer because.

it goes in there and directly knocks. around DNA DNA it turns out actually is. pretty good at absorbing energy and. releasing or absorbing radiation and. releasing it as heat energy just like. melanin is as well but every once in a. while it gets excited and it gets kind. of knocked out of whack and some of its. base pairs fused together what we call a. mutation right and if that base pair.

gets fused and isn't repaired and it. happens to be at a site that say. expresses A protein that protects. against tumors well then you can get. skin cancer and that's how it happens. yeah and even though that happens that. the base pairs fused together and aren't. repaired out of maybe one out of every. thousand times that's one out of every. thousand interactions with a photon. think of how many photons are barreling. down at you over a given minute of.

exposure to sunlight the odds are. against you agreed uh and you know since. you mentioned the UV clothing or SPF. clothing. uh they are pretty great like most. people I know now wear those shirts MH. um well they look cool well I wear one. of those now because it serves three. purposes looks kind of cool yeah um I. hate applying sunscreen like all over my. body I'll hit my face and arms and stuff.

but like getting putting all over my. chest and belly and back and all it's. just I'm you're going to miss spots sure. and have weird uh streaks of sunburn. here and there where you missed it right. and it's just no good uh and then third. you know when you have some extra pounds. it's like slimming well if you wear the. t-shirt in the pool everybody knows it's. not a good look right but you can get. away with the the SPF shirt I think that. is one reason why SPF shirts were.

adopted oh sure yeah yeah uh but they. really work great um and they dry super. quick like uh my skinny friends use them. you know right but it's good for fat. dudes too uh but they are uh rated up to. like 50 plus uh the tighter The Weave. the better they say to hold a shirt up. to the light like just a regular shirt. will work like denim they said is one of. the best things cuz it's such a tight. weave yeah nothing like wearing a jean. jacket at the beach put on that D I'm. and you're all set um but a UPF rating.

they go from about 15 to 50 uh if you. can hold it up to the light not see. anything the darker they're better it's. like mine is like gray and black mhm and. um some of them are even have uh are. even treated I think yeah that's what I. thought so some of them are just the. weave is so tight that sun light can't. penetrate it just it's a physical. barrier to UVB what do they treat some. of them with I'm not exactly sure that's. the one thing that I'm kind of sketchy.

about because I don't love like I try to. not use harmful chemicals as much as. possible so I don't know if those are. like soaked in some like carcinogenic. right probably not right yeah probably. not it's probably magic dust of some. sort but uh this woman who is uh I think. she's the director of uh Dermatology at. Mount Si Medical Center in New York says. that clothing is the single most. effective form of sun protection even. more than sunscreen kind of for the. reasons I mentioned because it's you get.

get complete coverage I've got a long. sleeve one too so um it's just nice I. throw it on I don't have to worry about. all the the sunscreen chunk yeah and. then my legs I usually. don't get a ton of sun exposure to my. legs like I guess cuz you're usually. vertical in a pool like I don't lay. around on a float yeah uh and it's. underwater well you you want to be. careful UV radiation can penetrate up to. a foot underwater yeah for sure but I.

mean like I don't wear any sunscreen on. my legs and you know I've got my pants. off look at them I've got they're pretty. white I have um flip-flop tan lines on. my the tops of my feet I do too I kind. of forgot about the tops of feet dude I. am religious about putting sun block on. the tops of my feet and I still got tan. lines I saw a kid once um his feet. turned into like Fred Flintstone's feet. cuz he got burned on the tops of them. except for. or just never happening to me uh the.

whole foot well they say the tops of. feet like the tops of your ears and. earlobes um did you say the eyeballs can. burn the back of the neck those are some. of the areas that are you're least. likely or most likely to miss right with. sunscreen yep but I did not mention. eyeballs yes your eyeballs can burn can. get sunburn yeah I think I've. experienced that oh man that like after. being in the sun all day like my eyes. just sort of burning and irritated mhm I.

wonder if that's what that. is no this is I think you would know. yeah like I think my eyes are going to. die man that must be awful yeah all. right should we take another break yeah. and then we'll come back with sunscreen. [Music].

all right if we were in the way back. machine mhm we travel back to ancient. Egypt you might see people slapping oat. brand on their skin or Jasmine rice. brand what' I say oat brand that was. from the food feds episode a dummy yeah. rice brand spreading uh I guess moist. rice brand. why not or Jasmine they're like why not.

it's 2500 BC let's party well apparently. Jasmine is is good at repairing damage. skin I wonder if they tried jasmine. rice oh man how about that yeah I would. have been like on to something back then. yeah you would uh so they did this back. then but actual. sunscreen didn't come around till the. turn of the century till the early 1900s. yeah thousands of years after the. Egyptian dinos were over yep um there.

was a guy named Milton Blake he was. Australian and he uh came up with what. is considered the first sunblock in his. kitchen apparently over like the course. of 12 years and they still make it in. Australia can you really call it sun. block back then though it's probably. more like sun they call it a good first. try yeah he took him about 12 years of. experimentation but like you said he. finally uh began selling it and is it.

what's is the brand called Milton Blake. today it was the one thing that I didn't. look up all right well while you do that. I'll go to the. 1940s uh to Switzerland was a Swiss man. named France Gita who was a climber and. we mentioned snow um Burns snow Sun burs. were pretty bad and so he was I think he. had ascended Mount Pitts on the Swiss. Austrian border and got really burned is. that pits plow from in glorious bastards. is that the same Mountain oh I don't.

know I I forgot about that part yeah uh. but he got really burned and was like. this is awful so he came back and. started work uh and in 1946 came up with. the pittsb glacier cream uh and this had. an SPF of two which um like you said. good. start I don't even know if that. qualifies as a good start well it was. probably more than Milton Blakes don't. you think or well supposedly. asan people have a um have a natural SPF.

of about three so this guy somehow. managed to bring it down and. not um and then in Miami Florida there. was a man named Benjamin green he was an. Airman and pharmacist and he was flying. in World War II and got a lot of sun up. there and so he uh developed something. called he labeled red vet pet uh red. Veterinary uh petrola. which I think is the same thing as.

petroleum right and I was surprised when. I saw that he was an Airman and vet I. figured it meant like a veteran of a war. yeah no Veterinary who knew uh and then. he would later add a little cocoa butter. little coconut oil and voila you have. Coppertone yeah and then in 1956 they. revealed the little Coppertone girl. illustration yeah and it became a. household hit and I think actually. helped sun block in in general become a. thing by the.

1960s yeah uh that little girl's name is. Sher. Irwin and she was the daughter of the. woman who designed it yeah the. illustrator right yeah Joyce uh. Ballentine in 1959 used her own daughter. as a model and uh Joyce Valentine on her. own was very. um just sort of an anomaly at the time. she got a lot of uh work as a graphic. artist uh in the 1950s. and her daughter called her a Maverick.

in that way MH and that she was you know. in the 1950s it was kind of tough for a. lady to get that kind of high dollar. work sure and so uh that's off to you. Joyce Balentine. yep and Cherry is still. around I could see that Joyce might be. too I saw a recent thing really this is. 1956 yeah she may be gone but the TIC. wasn't that she could totally be around. I mean uh I forgot what year it was I. didn't catch the dat on the article I. read about her I got you but it's worth.

looking up she's. interesting um so yeah copper tone took. off uh the 1960s is when. sunscreens um kind of caught hold a. little bit but it wasn't until the late. 70s until the FDA got involved and said. maybe we should like have some. guidelines here yeah which they did and. a lot of them didn't. take some of them did but one of the. things that the FDA did when they got. involved with um sunscreen especially in.

the US they're roundly criticized for. basically being really slow at testing. the chemicals that are used on the one. hand hats off for caring sure um that. the chemicals we put on our bodies. aren't going to kill us but at the same. time hurry up right so apparently. there's just a handful of chemicals that. are in use as active ingredients in. sunscreen in the United States whereas. Europe has something like 28 right I. believe and I guess Europe and Japan.

their sunscreen is way better than the. stuff that we use here in the states. yeah and it's not because they're just. willy-nilly about what they'll allow. they've actually researched and okayed. more chemicals yeah typically the EU is. pretty serious about when they clear. chemicals it's pretty safe so how does. sunscreen work so Chuck here's how. sunscreen works for years and years and. years and years and years up until the. 21st century it was it protected you. from UVB only yes and even still there's.

plenty of sunscreens out there that only. protect you from UVB oh yeah so if you. want protection from UVB and UVA which. is what you want you want to find one. that's called broadspectrum. Sunscreen yeah and it will say that they. will Champion that very clearly on the. label yeah and if it's not on the label. it doesn't do anything to protect you. from UVB no and so the whole the whole. yeah UVA only UVB so you'll get a tan.

but you won't burn if you use it. correctly yes you will just age right. rapidly so with um with sunscreen you. will see also on the label it will say. SPF some protection factor of 15 or 30. or 50 or 100 apparently it goes up to. 110 now really yeah and there's a lot of. controversy with that too which we'll. talk about but with sun proof Factor. this is how they determine you ready. yeah they take the um they take the Sun.

the sunscreen and they put a little. square on somebody's bottom and then. they expose it to UV radiation and they. use the bottom because that is the part. of the body least likely to have gotten. Sun sure it's like a blank slate right. yeah without being a sexual organ well. put yeah because you don't want to test. sun no no uh and then they'll they'll go. to the other buttock and they will say. they expose that to UV radiation but it.

won't be treated with sunscreen yeah and. they'll do this up again and again and. again basically until you burn yeah and. then they will say okay well um what was. the the minimum dose for the untreated. buttock and we're going to take that and. divide use that to divide the minimum. dose of UV radiation for the treated. buttock and then that number is going to. be SPF and we're going to round down to. the nearest five yeah and that's what. some protection factor is it's.

ultimately another way of saying what. percentage of the radiation from the Sun. this stuff blocks right so if you get. sunburned after 10 minutes in the sun. with nothing if you put on spf15 you can. be in the Sun for about 150 minutes. without burning yeah because there's. another way to you there's a formula for. taking SPF to figure out how it applies. to you and it is you take the. um the number of minutes it takes you to.

burn which who knows that do you know. how long it takes you to burn nope this. this is the dumbest formula ever it how. many minutes it takes you to burn times. the number on the SPF and then that's. how many minutes you can hang out. outside without burning that's that's. what SPF means to you personally yeah. and here are the caveats and there's a. lot of them one of them is when they do. these studies they apply way more than.

your average person does when they go to. the wherever in the sun yeah they're. applying the amount you're supposed to. apply right uh I I would say just cut. everything in half to be safe that's. probably pretty good real like if you're. like I'm good with a 15 use a 30 maybe. even by 3/4s because I saw a lot of. people use between a quarter to a half. of what you're supposed to use right and. one reason they do well the the. beginning application is already short. changed mhm and then you need to reapply.

the stuff because even though they say. sweatproof and waterproof um we all know. that that isn't true like throughout the. day supposedly if you in the United. States Market something as water. resistant or very water resistant it has. to last either 40 or 80 minutes. respectively in the water yeah right but. even still they say when you get out. just immediately reapply sunscreen like. your starting from scratch again you. should yeah and I don't do that either.

no like you said you don't no it's it's. my great failing in life it's one of. mine for sure uh well and we'll we'll. get back to application here in a minute. but I don't think we ever said for sure. how this stuff works um they work in a. couple of different ways one of two ways. uh they they form a barrier by either. absorbing or reflecting so it's either a. chemical filter or literally physically. blocking these UV rays yeah and forever.

and still apparently today zinc oxide is. the the main mineral that's used as a. physical blocker blocker it reflects the. sun it doesn't it just bounces right off. of it yeah like it if you put zinc oxide. on your face you golden um it is a gross. greasy white. mess uh that's seemingly impossible to. absorb mhm um but if you don't care what. you look like or ironically if you do. care what you look like right uh in the.

long term but don't care in the short. term that's what you should be using. like on your face for sure you like. having a nose yes you should put zinc. oxide on it you should so that's that's. a physical barrier what the chemical. filters do um they act like as synthetic. melanin yeah where they take the UV. radiation absorb it and then turn it. into waste heat energy they don't allow. it to penetrate the skin it's amazing. that's what sunscreen is it's a it's a. it's you're covering your body you're.

putting it in between the Sun and your. body so that the sun's radiation can't. penetrate through it to your skin. beneath it that's amazing that they came. up with that yeah it's pretty cool. especially considering the Egyptians had. an idea of what was going on here oat. brand yeah rice brand uh so we mentioned. you know that I think you said they go. up to what now 110 that's the highest I. saw so the controversy there is is. basically it doesn't it's not an.

exponential growth anything over 30 they. just consider 30 plus because if you. wear something that's a 110 it's not. like well then that's you know four. times almost as much as a 30 it it. doesn't work that way no and supposedly. if you if you burn in 10 minutes right. and you are say using a 70 you should be. able to sit out in the sun for 700. minutes yeah no without without getting.

a burn yeah technically if everything. was 100% right that that may be true but. that it never works out that way in. practice so just throw out that idea Al. together yeah right um and like you said. the FDA wanted it to just be 30 plus. because at 30 an SPF of 30 blocks. 96.7% of the sun's harmful rays right. yeah um 50 though only blocks 98% and.

100 blocks 99% and yeah blocking 99% is. better than blocking. 96.7% right but if you are sitting there. just going by the SPF number and you're. using a 30 and then you think well if I. use a 100 I can just put it on once and. stay out all day um that's where the. problem lies it gives a false sense of. security where you shouldn't have. security and so the the FDA was saying. everybody just use 30 and use it.

correctly and reapply it a lot I think. what we use in our family is generally. the 70 and then we also have the. straightup zinc oxide oh you do huh oh. yeah yeah and I don't I don't care what. I look like anymore sure clearly have my. pants off I've got um I've got one of. those like big wide brim like floppy. fishing hats and like camo uhhuh with. like the the neck thing and everything. I'll rock that like the old uh jungle. hat like the Vietnam hat yeah I Emily. wears a big Straw Hat CU she just had a.

little skin cancer removed from her. Temple um oh no she all right yeah she's. good they got it and you know she's. going to keep going back but everything. looks like and in most cases it is a. little minor thing you know right um but. she's like hardcore now and she always. she's been hardcore about sunscreen for. a while but now it's that and a hat uh. and I wear my uh my trusty pith helmet. you have a pth helmet yeah a pth helmet.

mhm a pth helmet I do that's awesome I. wore it became I got it before I think. my uh first or not my first only one. I've been to Newport Folk Festival mhm. um because they're great they're. comfortable they breathe right uh they. block out the sun uhuh I think they're. super cool yeah because you know I'm the. only guy around with a pth helmet on. sure so I'm easy to spot in a crowd pth. helmet and a UV shirt and no pants and. right with milk bottle white calves no.

well yeah that's about right yeah that's. if you see me at the pool that's me. that's awesome ray bands P helmet yeah. UV shirt well that's another one too. like even if you don't like wearing. sunglasses TS you need to be wearing. sunglasses and ones that polarize I feel. like I'm going to die if I don't wear. sunglasses outside yeah me too I hate. bright light like it hurts and I wear. them a lot inside like I know it's. obnoxious but in uh like bright spaces.

in airports and grocery stores well a. lot of times I'll wear my sunl it's a. statement I just I don't know man I. don't like bright light yeah I hate it. so um do you lay out in the sunlight no. okay I don't either no no no like it's. always in the shape for. me no like I'll like I don't lay out or. at all but I mean if you're like hanging. out by a pool or something I'm almost. always in the water okay I'm always.

under the I'll jump in the water to cool. off but then I'm underneath like an. umbrella the rest of the time what do. you do like read a book listen to music. sure yeah I'm almost always in the water. because it's so God awful hot for me and. my sweatiness MH um but the pool is just. my best friend yeah it's nice and I'm. generally like Neck. Deep not much exposed so yeah about a. foot down right about to your nipples. yeah you're safe yeah nipples up gotta. be careful Chuck or uh I'll get one of.

those uh noodles foam noodles and I just. saddle it up and straddle it Y and a. good a thick noodle keeps me at about. mid chest level nice and I can live with. that and I'll just bob up and down for. hours have you seen they have like these. kind of nettings that you can run a. noodle through so it's like a seat you. like it I the reason I don't like mine. is because it doesn't fit the big noodle. fits the thinner Noodle and so I found I.

had to do a little work to keep my chin. up yeah you don't want to work well a. little bit of kicking is okay every now. and then but I had to kind of constantly. kick to keep my neck up yeah and I like. to just be either chest high or neck. high in water that's my. recipe. um I don't think we mentioned how much. you're supposed to. use no and we should you're supposed to. use for an average adult body whatever. the heck that means. um about a shot glass size about an.

ounce of sunscreen on your body and. about a nickel size amount for your face. and neck right so you put that on 15 to. 30 minutes before you go outside to let. it absorb and do its work yeah a lot of. people don't do that um once you start. to sweat once you get in the pool which. is when I start thinking about going. outside right you want to reapply uhhuh. you want to keep up with. reapplying and um you want want to wear. a hat broad spectrum and you want.

broadspectrum don't mess around get. broadspectrum high SPF get as high an. SPF as you want it will block more. percentage of the raise it will just. um just don't put your full faith in it. yeah don't do the formula just throw the. formula out go high SPF broad spectrum. reapply and and don't forget some areas. of your feet like your ears and stuff uh. and they also said and this is good. advice their number one thing where didd. you get this actually do you remember. all over which which part the the one.

through five tips I think that was from. how stuff works oh okay um it says know. thyself so if you're super white. redheaded. Irish person lad or last then you know. you've been dealing with this your whole. life you don't have to be told but you. burn super easy you might want to use. more reapply more often or if you have. uh a prevalence of skin cancer in your. family you might want to take that into. consideration for. sure got anything else uh I do I got one.

more thing just on the spray versus the. cream all these sprays are the rage now. you know they're super easy the. wind well yeah sure the wind is a factor. I didn't think about that uh they are. very convenient but Consumer Report says. don't use them on your kids uh because. inhaling the fumes is no good um yeah. you can tell you get a mouthful of that. you're like this is not good for me um. basically what it comes down to is the.

upside is is that if you were more. likely to use the spray than nothing. then use the spray if if the convenience. is what makes the difference then go. wild with it don't use it on your kids. don't use it on your face ever uh rub it. in you know spray then rub it in you're. not supposed to use it on your face yeah. they say Don't Spray it on your face. have you spray in your face. sometimes um and it says how how long. you apply it makes a difference so if.

you just spray for two to 3 seconds. you're getting you're not getting enough. oh yeah you definitely don't want to do. it on your face then so they definitely. side with creams 100% is better yeah but. if you're just won't use anything. because you hate the cream then use the. spray yeah it's good. advice one day we're going to have some. perfect. sunscreen that does the trick and. everybody's going to know how to use it. just right and everything will be great. just in time for this climate change.

thing too yeah uh if you want to know. more about sunscreen sun block sun tan. sun lotion everything I don't think you. could know more about it yeah just go to. sleep go to sleep and let this gel and. you will know everything there is to. know and since I said gel it's time for. listener. mail uh I'm going to call this oh this. is one where I get to chime in on. something okay in real time hey guys my. name is Rebecca Chan and first I'd like. to say I love your show by listening to.

it I impress people with my knowledge of. random things it's a good start Rebecca. uh I wanted to write in about your. episode on Election laws and voter fraud. uh you mentioned early voting and this. reminded me of the time I got into an. argument online with someone about it. well M I didn't know people argued. online uh I really like early voting but. this person said they disagreed with it. and wish it would be taken away because. they felt it was disrespectful to not go. on actual election day seeing they did. not think people who went to vote early.

actually cared about elections this was. surprising to me cuz I only thought of. early voting is an alternate more. convenient way to vote then again maybe. I'm just a stupid Millennial who buys. too much avocado toast oh burn what are. she burned herself uh what are your. thoughts on early voting being. disrespectful to elections uh from. Rebecca. Chan uh Rebecca we're most likely apt to. say to each his own but I will say that. that person is stupid yeah that makes. zero sense it's not like shooting.

fireworks off the day before the 4th of. July you know like if you can vote. earlier vote earlier yes being. disrespectful to an election day by. voting early is the dumbest thing I've. ever heard it's pretty ridiculous so. whoever said that on the internet is not. interneting correctly nice pretty good. Chuck shut that down and hats off to. Rebecca for just being genuine Ely. puzzled by it rather than like you're an. idiot yeah uh if you want to get in.

touch with us like Rebecca did you can. send us an email the stuff podcast. howstuffworks.com and as always join us. at our home on the web stuff you should. know.com. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts iHeart. Radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].